Executive Leadership Strategy: Why Presence Matters More Than Performance

Strategy isn’t just about plans and execution. In this episode, we explore a deeper framework for executive leadership — one rooted in presence, growth, and resources.

In high-pressure environments filled with distraction and complexity, leaders are often pulled in multiple directions. Instead of reacting faster, what if executive strategy began with slowing down long enough to see clearly?

We discuss:

• Why presence is the foundation of executive leadership
• How distraction impacts decision-making and team culture
• The difference between performance improvement and true leadership growth
• Why awareness, compassion, and curiosity are essential for executive formation
• How to redefine “resources” beyond money, time, and headcount
• Moving from a scarcity mindset to recognizing abundance
• What it means for a leader to become a resource for others

“Leadership begins with presence, the ability to see clearly where we are and what is real.”

“There is an abundance of resources to solve our problems and ways to pursue our challenges.”

This conversation offers practical insight for executive leaders navigating pressure, change, and organizational complexity — and invites you to rethink strategy from the inside out.

Reflection

Which area needs your attention right now:
 Presence? Growth? Or Resources?

🔗 Learn more about our executive coaching and team development work:
 www.leadershipvisionconsulting.com

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Transcript

Presence, Growth, And Resources

SPEAKER_00 0:00

When we open up a conversation about these three topics, having a broad discussion around presence, growth, and resources allows leaders to highlight the component that's helpful to them on their journey today. They grab hold of it, they start to grow in that area. Someone grabs another part of it, they start to grow in that area. And eventually the whole group is experiencing the forward momentum of growing together.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

There is an abundance of resources to solve our problems and ways to pursue our challenges with this mindset that there are probably more resources than we could ever utilize. And once we begin to pay attention to what resources we need, we may be able to see where they are all around us.

Show Intro And Purpose

Reframing Executive Strategy

SPEAKER_01 0:49

You are listening to the Leadership Vision Podcast, our show helping you build positive team culture. Our consulting firm has been doing this work for the past 25 years, so the leaders are mentally engaged and emotionally healthy. To learn more about what we do, you can click the link in the show notes or visit us on the web at Leadership Vision Consulting.com. Hello everyone, my name is Nathan Freeberg, and today in the podcast, we are talking about executive strategy, body, mind, and scarcity. But not in the way that strategy is usually discussed. Before plans, priorities, or execution, leadership begins with presence, the ability to see clearly where we are and what is real. From that clarity, leaders grow through awareness, compassion, and curiosity, and that growth is sustained by resources, the people, practices, and perspectives that we draw from, and the moments when we become a resource for others. Now, this conversation here today with Brian and Dr. Linda Schubring isn't about moving faster or doing more. It's about pausing long enough to see clearly, growing intentionally, and leading with an understanding of what truly sustains us, especially in environments shaped by pressure, complexity, and scarcity. This is a Leadership Vision Podcast. Enjoy. Hi Brian and Linda, welcome back from your travels.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

We are glad to be back.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Is that just part of your part of your deal? I was trying to warm up with easy questions again. Yes, Nathan. That was really a bummer. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

We have lots of sunshine over the weekends. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Well, that's good. We're recording at this beginning of February. Do you feel like spring is near? Or do you feel like this is never gonna end?

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Like there's always there's more sunlight.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

So the days are getting the days feel like they're getting longer.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

So I'm excited about that.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Well, today we are talking about mind, body, and scarcity. And before we kind of jump into my questions, do either one of you want to take a stab at just framing this conversation and kind of summarizing perhaps what we're gonna talk about as it kind of fits in perhaps the larger arc or narrative of what leadership vision is all about?

Distraction, Taffy, And Attention

SPEAKER_02 3:20

Yes. One of the themes that we're noticing in the work that we are doing is how much pull is being placed on teams' attention. It's a pull to change or a pull to modify and to adapt. And these external pressures seem to test whether or not we're made of taffy. And so when I say that, what I'm saying is when our attention and emotions continually are pulled in one direction or another, often at the same time, not only do we not know what to pay attention to or what's important, we lose track of what's happening immediately around us and certainly what's happening within us. And what we continue to see is people struggle to be where they are in whether it's the complexity or calm of the moment, we lose track of the people that are around us and how the people around us can actually help us grow into the challenges and opportunities that we're facing. Because sometimes the people that we're with are the resources that we need to help us grow and to help us pay attention. And the most, not the most important person, but one person that can really be the shaper of this type of experience is the executive leader and their ability to be present with their teams while paying attention to the external pressures.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

As Brian's speaking, I'm thinking about the executives that we're working with, the leaders that we're working with, and the amount of distractions that they're holding, and the amount of distractions their people are holding. And it just feels like in the mix of holding all these distractions that people are asking for, the leaders are asking for, like, what do I do? And sometimes it's getting present, and sometimes it's letting some things go, and sometimes it's being able to sort through the distraction at a quick pace.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

And what I'm asking is, how is it that we can discern what it is we're paying attention to? What is the actual opportunity and challenge that we're facing, and how to discern that from the noise and the distraction and the disruption that is within the environment. So, how do we be present to the challenges, changes, and opportunities that are within us and are around us and be able to name what is distraction or opinion or noise?

SPEAKER_01 5:48

I love that you talked about taffy being pulled because here on the Oregon coast, there's lots of taffy places. And so one time we watched them do this with the kids, and I'm probably getting some of these details wrong, but I remember them saying that in the polling process, one of the things that turns it into taffy is introduction of all these little air holes and these air pockets that create, you know, it from this mass into something edible and blah, blah, blah. So what I want to do here in this conversation, if we want to go in this taffy metaphor, is to introduce some air holes that will perhaps give people some space, some whatever, to be able to maybe transform their executive presence and executive strategy in a way that's meaningful. So I want to I want to start by talking about presence. You both mentioned that presence is perhaps seeing what is real. Why do you think presence matters before like strategy or execution at the executive leadership role?

SPEAKER_02 6:48

I'm watching your face, Linda. So what does that face want to say?

The Practice Of Presence

SPEAKER_00 6:52

What does my face want to say? A couple things. My face wants to say, I cannot wait to hear what Brian's gonna say today about this as his thoughts continue to evolve, and I bear witness and am present to a lot of the deepening and broadening of the thinking around presence. But I just can't help but think that there are leaders that we are working with that have shining examples of when they're present, when the phone is turned down, when the laptop is closed, when their breathing slows a little bit, and when you visibly see the elimination of distraction to find how to meet the moment and be present in the moment.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

And what I'm asking for is for people to begin to practice focusing on what is real or just paying attention to what is real, paying attention to the places that we're in. Oftentimes we are asking our leaders to gather together. That's paying attention to the place because place matters. Even if we're meeting with our leadership teams in a virtual environment, the places that people are sitting in matter. How do we really connect to the places that people are in? Second, who are the people that we're with? How can we pay more attention to the people that are actually on our teams that when we're assembling in a in a place, do we notice what is catching their attention? Do we notice how they're showing up and how their appearance may be an indication of how they're feeling on the inside? Are they themselves distracted? Are they hungry? Are there things going on at home? How do we pay attention to the humanity of the people that are gathering around us? And most importantly, how do we pay attention to our person? Are we tense in our shoulders? Does our back hurt? Are we uncomfortable in the clothes that we're wearing? Are we finding it hard to pay attention to the needs that we personally have? And those three areas of practicing presence, I think, are some of the most important things to pay attention to. Where are we? And is that place welcoming for belonging of who gathers? Who are the people that are around us? How do we pay attention and support others? And lastly, how do we pay attention to our specific needs and be present to what we need today and not be afraid to say those things out loud?

SPEAKER_01 9:13

What are the sign that a leader's not doing that, or that perhaps they're just reacting to the situation versus like truly being present, truly taking those three things into account?

SPEAKER_02 9:25

The things that I notice are on a continuum, and I've been known to talk about things on a continuum and to provide extremes. The things that I'm paying attention to when it comes to behavior or attitude is that the person that may have that frenetic energy around them, like there's this constant movement, agitation. They seem to not be able to sit still. Something's clearly going on that's distracting them from being present because they're being present to something else, and it's being demonstrated through that frenetic agitation. And the opposite is also true. I've seen people walk into a room for some of our sessions, and they have this sense of heaviness. They're not distracted, they may be very, very calm, but there's something going on emotionally that is keeping them from being present. And it could be an emotional distraction outside of the room that they brought into the room with them. So it's paying attention to some of those nonverbals, some of the body language. Um, even this may sound super specific, but I pay attention to this how fast people are are drinking, how they're holding what they're they're drinking, what they're eating, the very things that they have around them. I'm paying attention to that. Is that helping them be more present? For some people, sipping on a hot beverage could help them in the way that they're calming down, and another person's burning their lips. And there's just a different way that people are attending to themselves, and we're paying attention to that. That could be a lot. It's good.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

It is that is a lot, but I think that's a good thing. Right.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Some people are ready, know though. I want to also say this then there are those that are ready, they know how to pay attention to themselves. They may be asking others questions or they are asking if people are comfortable, they may have their devices open or closed, doesn't matter. Somehow they're paying attention to what's going on in the room, and you can tell that those people are present.

Signals Leaders Miss

SPEAKER_00 11:18

So whether you're a leader, a facilitator, a coach, if you're in charge of a meeting, you have to know that you're not just leading a group of people, you're leading a group of people that are are distracted and perhaps are asking themselves, what is the compelling reason that I should listen, participate, engage, and so on. I think when we're aware that we're competing with the other distractions, there is sometimes a slowing of what Brian and I will say or how we will lead. We've noticed some leaders will almost take a breath and help the whole group be present, come into the moment, come in expectant. We find that leaders that can frame why we've gathered that that's also a wonderful technique to get people ready to then make the decision, either kind of with their body or with their their willingness. Like, am I gonna engage or am I just gonna just sit in this moment and be present to the distractions of my life instead of present of what the moment is is asking of me.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

So it seems like if I'm synthesizing, what I'm hearing you saying is that presence isn't this passive thing, it's this active discipline of paying attention. Can do you have examples of this of how you've seen it or do it in your own lives?

Framing The Room For Focus

SPEAKER_02 12:48

Actually, I do. We happen to have an event happening this week where there is a very large team coming together, and the CEO and the senior leader that supports him, they have this tremendous way of paying attention to what the group needs to pay attention to so that they can be present. So for example, this CEO is not afraid to start on time and and to just say that you know not everyone's here yet. And he has a way of gathering us into the room and allowing us to find where we're gonna see to make sure we all have our name tags and just get set up. And he frames the expectation because he's present to not only what is happening, but he's naming what is happening, which puts everyone at this in this place of being comfortable. And the senior leader that that helps facilitate it, that leader is present by making sure that everything is in the place where it's supposed to be, so that people are familiar when they come in there of where they're gonna sit, who they're gonna going to sit with. And then it's that paying attention that is then anchored in some type of practice that the CEO does and calling everyone to attention to prepare themselves for the challenges for growth that are coming. And he is an amazing leader at this by either telling a story or doing a breathing exercise or talking about the growth of the organization, telling jokes, or talking about the struggles that he's going through. He has a way of being present to himself, to the organization, to the people in the room, and what's needed for that day. And it's that kind of presence and framing of the experience that places people in the position for growth that they wouldn't have if they all came in distracted, not knowing how to pay attention.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

Well, that's why I want to ask is about the growth piece of it. If presence is about like seeing this is where we're at, this is how people are drinking their coffee or whatever, how do we actually go from that to a place of growth and more into how leaders are formed?

SPEAKER_02 14:51

Well, first of all, what I want to talk to you about growth is when you are present, you're also present to the type of growth that's actually available. I think that oftentimes leaders who are distracted get the opportunity for growth wrong, meaning they're not quite sure maybe what seeds to plant, who's ready, and who's not ready. Like the leaders and teams that are present are also aware of the type of growth that is needed right now. They may understand the growth cycles and the importance to realize that we're not always growing like you would in the spring and summer, that there are times where growth is more subdued. And we all know that everyone grows at different speeds, at different rates, and the fruit of their growth is different. So I think the formation of environments where growth is possible is determined by individual readiness. Am I ready to grow? And even if it's not your season for growth, maybe you're the sunshine or rain on someone else that can cause them to grow too. I'll be the subject. There you go. I'll be the ring.

unknown 15:55

Perfect.

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Now we know our roles. I'm curious when because we're talking specifically about executives, right? The executive leader. And I wonder how executive growth as an executive differs from just like improving performance or improving skills. Is there a difference of that? Is there a difference in those two things? Three things, whatever.

From Presence To Growth

SPEAKER_02 16:15

Nathan, when you connected growth to a title, that's where my thought process broke down because I don't think that growth and title are connected at the beginning. I think that the best people who grow on Teams are the ones who grow themselves. And that is regardless of title. We don't always look for the executive leader to be the one that's demonstrating the potential or the opportunity or the patterns for growth. We're looking for the people who are growing. And you can often hear it in their language and how they show up, in the questions that they're asking each other. They may say, I just read a book or I saw something online, or like they're contributing because they are themselves growing. And I often have seen leaders who understand what growing means. They may be the first person to give something away so others can grow because they know that my giving something away will only be replaced by something new that'll grow in its place.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Yeah. Well, we at the beginning I talked about how leaders grow through awareness, compassion, and curiosity. Why those three words, or why are those so essential for leaders?

SPEAKER_02 17:21

Um, I have a great story of that about this. The other day I was in a coaching session with somebody, and I was asking him, I can't remember exactly what I asked him, but he gave an example. He lives on a large acreage, and what he and his wife and kids actually wanted to do was to start a Christmas tree farm. So they had the they they they had the vast acreage, so they were aware of what they had to work with. And what they wanted to do was they wanted to plant this Christmas tree farm. What they weren't aware of, like they would, they weren't curious enough about the soil. Because after a couple of years, their trees weren't flourishing, and it was only after that moment that they did some more investigation and found out that the soil was not wasn't ever going to support flourishing evergreen trees. And so when it comes to awareness, where are the opportunities where our teams are ready for growth? Second, having compassion is really understanding is someone flourishing or not. And to understand that there may be times where growth isn't as accelerated as we want, or you may maybe grow a different type of grape than we naturally anticipated. But compassion is understanding the growth cycles and what happens when someone struggles for growth and being curious on both sides of the opportunity. When teams are growing well, why? And the curiosity is what are we doing well? What is contributing to this? And when something's not going right, still being curious without judgment on what is our challenge here, it maybe just be another resource that we needed to tap into.

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Yeah.

Awareness, Compassion, Curiosity

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Growth is not always seen as active. I think if you time-lapse a seed turning into a seedling or tree, then you can see the growth. There are some times where it seems like there is nothing happening. And the some of the best leaders that we work with, they have an awareness of the habits that they are practicing the work that they're doing with great intention, is building the kind of awareness and practice that will lead to greater levels of growth, more exponential growth. And I think the only difference between maybe a leader and a senior leader or an executive leader is the exponential nature of the growth. So you need more time to practice some of these components of truly being self-aware. Really, not just navel gazing, not just trying to understand all the complexities of who you are, but do on a regular basis press pause to see where you've come, see what's going on now, to notice the areas where you're growing in compassion and notice the areas where maybe you've been growing in criticism, and how do you write that ship in some ways, and to really take an inventory of if you are being curious or just pretending to be, and what is kind of the overshadowing message or container for either growth to happen or the growth of others to happen.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

I I want to bring us into the third section here about resources, but I want to to kind of summarize what I hear you saying, and then I'd love an example, is that growth is it's not a moment or this breakthrough, it's this like formation process. You talked about the soil and the trees, and there's nothing happening for a while, then it kind of slowly starts to happen little by little. Do you have an example where you have have seen that happen in a leader or a team that you've worked with? And then I want to tie that directly to this idea of resources beyond just give it time.

Growth At Executive Scale

SPEAKER_02 21:19

Yeah, Nathan, great question. I can think of four, five, or six immediate examples of the challenge. I think that first of all, when you have a leader or leadership teams that are present to what's happening in their environment, they will almost instinctively know that growth needs to happen. And for that growth to happen, I really believe that a leader and the leadership team need to ask some critical questions about what types of resources are needed for us to truly grow into this moment of opportunity. And when it comes to resources, we often ask Leaders to get really, really specific. Sometimes change is coming and a leadership team doesn't know the extremity of the change. They just know it's going to be something severe. There are other teams that we work with where they know what's going to happen 10, 12, 14 months from now and how the team needs to grow into that moment. When it comes to growth, growth doesn't happen in isolation. Growth happens when a multitude of elements come together and resources play a critical role to not only shape how leaders grow into the opportunity, but resources are also critical when sustaining large-scale change over time.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

What are resources? Like let's talk about what is a resource? Is it a person? Is it a place? Is it money? Like what how are you using the word resources here?

SPEAKER_02 22:55

I think one of the more overlooked resources are the environmental indicators. And may I say the accurate environmental indicators that we need to grow into something new? Sometimes the environmental indicators are overlooked because of the pain of the present moment. If we zoom back and really look at what is the environment asking or requiring of us, it's may not be specific, but we know that there's a storm coming, or there's an opportunity coming, and that environmental resource is a first thing to pay attention to.

Defining Resources As Forces

SPEAKER_00 23:27

Which is part of the definition that we use and we like to present to our clients, and that is resources are formative forces. They are the forces around you that either invite greater growth or that you can leverage in a variety of ways. And sometimes when we are working with leaders that are maybe new to leading, we'll hear things like, Oh, well, we need another person. Another resource is, you know, immediately added staff. And and we see the maybe more experienced leaders saying, and then you're gonna have to teach that them to fish, and then you're gonna have to teach them to do all the things. And are you ready for that kind of resource to just show up because it will be a formative force, good, bad, or is it the is it the right time? There are some leaders that will say, I just need more time. I just need more time. And oftentimes when we hear that, it's like, well, maybe you just have bad habits. Not that you just need more time, or you haven't structured your time in a way that you're meeting the moment of what is necessary or or what is what is needed in in in the moment. There are times when people will just say, I just need money. I just need money. I remember being at one of the jobs that I was at earlier on in my career. We did not have big flush budgets. And a friend of mine was working at another institution where they had all the money in the world. And what I started to realize is that I would rather have a shoestring budget and tons of opportunity for creativity and meaning making rather than just throwing a lot of money at something and thinking that that's gonna solve the problem. So when we talk about resources, you think about the formative forces that that you need in order to grow, to get people to grow, and to really enable your strategy so that you have the competitive edge.

SPEAKER_02 25:28

And one of the things I don't want to overlook is that there are probably a myriad of organizational resources that companies can provide to pursue the objectives that are out there. What we want to provide as our unique and distinct perspective is that there are resources that each individual provides that really can't be measured. And that is one's understanding of their own unique identity and the contribution that they can make to the team members that they probably have worked with maybe two to 20 years. There's another resource of someone's cultural background, like a place that someone comes from, the people in the culture that they were raised in, there are resources and how unique cultures think and the way that they solve problems and how they view the world that can be a tremendous resource to the people that are around them. There are our lived experiences, which we've talked about plenty on this podcast, which are resources, our emotional awareness and sensitivity is also a tremendous resource. There are so many things that are embedded within each one of us that can serve as a resource. And I think the greatest resource of all is that we have an expectation that there is an abundance of resources to solve our problems and ways to pursue our challenges. And that could be potentially our greatest resource is to is to combat or stand up to the scarcity and lack mindset with this mindset that there are probably more resources than we could ever utilize. And once we begin to pay attention to what resources we need, we may be able to see where they are all around us.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

Yeah, I mean, it's a little bit of a, I don't know, full circle moment, but the how leaders are able to use resources, and then I don't know if we want to talk about when that leader actually becomes a resource. I think that's all deeply connected back to presence and growth. So is this like a circle? Is this a one, two, three-step process? I guess if you were to summarize kind of this framework for an executive audience about you know presence, growth, and resources, what do you hope they take away in terms of how this how this happens in the life cycle of a leader, if you will?

SPEAKER_00 27:41

There is power that perhaps kicks it kicks the cycle back around or allows the leader to spin within presence, growth, and resources. And it's when the leader can see themselves as that resource, that they are they are a noun, they are a verb, they can help resource their people, but they can also be the resource that they want to see in the world.

Beyond Time, Money, And Headcount

SPEAKER_02 28:06

And when people present themselves as a resource, it immediately grabs others' attention and asks the others to be more present to the person that is saying, I am a resource. And when we present ourselves as a resource, we will then be given the opportunity to how we have grown from a place of need to a place of abundance where we then can give away and be the resource to others that they're asking for.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

How this all ties together is that when we open up a conversation about these three topics that, yep, you can read about, you can study, you can start some habits, you can do some new practices, you can intentionally unlearn some things. What we find is that having a broad discussion around presence, growth, and resources allows leaders to highlight the component that's helpful to them on their journey today. They grab hold of it, they start to grow in that area. Someone grabs another part of it, they start to grow in that area, and it and eventually the whole group is experiencing the forward momentum of growing together.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

I love that as a way to conclude this. Brian and Linda, thank you so much for sharing this. I especially the stuff about presence always gives me reason to pause and further think about how I am being present. But thank you for listening to the Leadership Vision Podcast, our show helping you build positive team culture. If you found value from this episode or any of other material, we would appreciate it if you could follow us on social media, subscribe wherever you get your podcast, or click the little buttons on YouTube. You can also join our free email newsletter at Leadership Vision Consulting.com slash subscribe, or there's a link for that in the show notes as well. My name is Nathan Freebring.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

I'm Linda Schobring.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

And I'm Brian Schubring. And on behalf of our entire team, thanks for listening.